The landlord of the former Beales building on Silver Street has confirmed that its clean-up will be completed by “the end of next week”.
The building, whose frontage occupies half of Silver Street and much of Harpur Square, was vacated in March 2020 when the department store went into administration.
Read: All Beales stores to close on 19 March, say administrators
Until the summer of 2025, a temporary ‘home shop’ operated from the building, daubing the windows with paint and leaving the building in a state of disrepair, both inside and out.
It was only thanks to the Bedford Independent contacting the landlord in October that they became aware that the tenant had left the building.
The landlord, Panther plc, had previously told the Bedford Independent that they needed to confirm that this tenant had absconded before gaining access to the building to begin the clean-up.
Read: Beales building landlord confirms clean-up in the pipeline
As explained by property lawyer and Bedford resident, Catherine Williams: “I expect that the landlord will be wishing to avoid becoming liable for business rates on an empty property, and that liability would transfer from the tenant to them if they took possession of the premises.”
The landlord has previously confirmed to the Bedford Independent that they aim to convert the ground floor of the building into smaller units, which would be easier to let.
A spokesperson for Panther plc told the Bedford Independent: “We have instructed works to clean up the appearance of the property and they will be complete by the end of next week.”
Bedford Borough Council is the owner of the part of the Beales building that is immediately below Bedford Central Library and previously let this to Beales on a separate lease.
“Since Beales vacated, [Bedford Borough Council] have not contributed to repairs, security or anything in relation to their element of the property, leaving us to pick up the bill,” said the Panther plc spokesperson.
“To be clear, even without the wall separating our demise and the council demise, we still hold no liability for the part owned by the council.”
Bedford Borough Council did not respond to our request for a comment in time for publication.
